PALO ALTO -- Sophomore Lacey Cramer and senior Mindy McClurkin led the way for the track and field team at the Stanford Invitational, taking home wins in the 800-meters and 200-meters, respectively.

“Everything went really well this weekend,” BYU head coach Craig Poole said. “It was the first outdoor meet for a lot of girls, and we put up a lot of good marks that are encouraging for the rest of the season.”

Cramer, in her first race since taking second at the Indoor National Championships, took first among collegians in the 800-meters in 2:06.57. Teammate Nachelle Stewart ran well too, coming in second behind Cramer at 2:06.84.

McClurkin started her outdoor season better than ever, nearing career bests in the 100-meters and 200-meters. She finished second among collegians in the 100 at 11.70 and placed first among collegians in the 200 at 23.58.

Also competing well in the sprints was sophomore Natalie Stewart. Stewart led the Cougars in the 400-meter dash, taking second in 54.56. She also ran the 200-meters and finished fifth in 24.37.

In the shot put, sophomore Cassandra Woodall dominated the collegiate division with a 13.71m (44-11.75) throw, good enough to win by more than a foot.

Senior Amy Otis transitioned well from the 60-meter hurdles to the 100-meter hurdles. Otis ran 13.93 in preliminaries, and finished sixth in the finals in 14.15.

Sophomore Diana Blauer and senior Ashley Dziendziel performed well in the high jump, tying for fifth. The teammates both leapt 1.71m (5-07.25).

Several Cougars competed in the 1500-meter run. Freshman Michealanne Laurent led the way in 4:31.54, followed by teammates Sarah Yingling (4:31.80), Candace Eddy (4:34.33) and Lisa Drury (4:37.51).

“We are well on our way,” Poole said. “We got some good marks in the top 48 in the West (regional qualifying standard), and this outdoor season is already coming along well.”

BYU track and field will be back in action next weekend as they host their first home outdoor meet of the season with the BYU Cougar Invitational on April 2. A few athletes will also head to Austin, Texas for the Texas Relays from April 1-3.

PROVO -- BYU head coaches Craig Poole and Mark Robison will take their women’s and men’s track and field teams to Palo Alto, California this weekend to compete in the annual Stanford Invitational against some of the top competition in the nation.

“This meet is usually a big meet with a lot of great competition,” Poole said. “Most of the better teams from the Western U.S. attend, so there will be a lot of great athletes competing this weekend.”

BYU will face competition from elite schools such as Washington, California, Michigan, Oregon, USC, Boston College, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State and Stanford. Several other schools will be represented at the meet as well.

Indoor National Championship contenders Lacey Cramer, Mindy McClurkin, Rachel Fisher and Amy Otis will see their first outdoor competition of the season.

“I think all of our athletes our ready,” Poole said. “This is their first outdoor competition of the season, so I do not expect us to set the world on fire, but we should have several strong performances.”

The collegiate portion of the meet will begin Friday at 12:00 p.m. MST with the men’s 5000-meter run, and is scheduled to conclude on Saturday 5:12 p.m. MST with the men’s 4x400-meter relay.

Live results can be found at gostanford.com.